Anthony Smith Says he “Handcuffed” Coaches & Referee in Controversial Stoppage Loss

Amidst the early outcry regarding the fact Anthony Smith’s fight with Glover Teixeira wasn’t stopped sooner than it was, “Lionheart” defended both his coaches and referee Jason Herzog. Now the light-heavyweight contender has provided more context, as to why he thinks the fight wasn’t stopped earlier.

Smith says he “handcuffed” his coaches and Herzog

The former middleweight contender faced Teixeira in the main event of the May 13th card, and early on, it looked like Smith’s hand speed might deliver a victory. Teixeira, however, kept coming, and by round three he started to land more often.

By the end of round four, Smith’s face was battered and it seemed pretty certain he was headed for a loss. But, the fight continued, and Smith took more punishing punches before the bout was stopped in round five.

Well, plenty of fans and observers were upset with the fact Smith was allowed out for the fifth, or that the fight wasn’t stopped sooner. Herzog released a statement, in which he took the blame for what transpired.

But, all this time, Smith has said neither his coaches or Herzog should be criticized for what happened. In a more recent interview with MMA Fighting, Smith said this.

“I’m not a victim,” Smith said. “That’s what I want people to know. I put myself in this position on purpose. That’s all I want people to know. It’s not that I don’t care that they were upset about it or that I don’t care that they care. I love it.

Smith also outlined that he tells his coaches he does not want his fights stopped, and that he makes sure he’s aware of what he needs to do, when referees are thinking about intervening.

“I’m good with it. That’s the way that I wanted it to pan out,” Smith said. “I know that people online are going crazy right now and I think that’s for a couple different reasons.

I have some theories on why it bothers people so much but I put myself in that position on purpose by having the rule where my corners aren’t allowed to stop the fight and by making sure that I know the referee’s commands and what it’s going to sound like before he stops the fight and what I need to do, by what I told the doctor. Everything worked perfect.

“That’s exactly how I hoped it was going to work someday if I ended up in that position and it did exactly that. My corners were handcuffed and couldn’t stop the fight. I know what to say to the doctor.

I’ve been doing this a long time. I know what the doctor needs to hear to continue a fight. And I knew exactly what the ref needed cause I handcuff the ref before the fight. I’ve been doing that for the past five or six years.”

Reaction?

It will be interesting to see what the reaction is to these comments. Some people who thought the fight should have been stopped sooner, might counter that this is precisely why fighters do need their coaches and refs to intervene.

Most fighters are willing to take an enormous amount of punishment, with the hope that somehow, they can pull out a victory. But, how often does that happen?

All this aside, hopefully Smith has a speed recovery.